


Fighting Words

by Fericita, TheSpasticFantastic



Series: Dangerous Secrets 'Verse [2]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Novel: Dangerous Secrets: The Story of Iduna and Agnarr - Mari Mancusi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27700574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fericita/pseuds/Fericita, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpasticFantastic/pseuds/TheSpasticFantastic
Summary: Agnarr had every intention of respecting Iduna’s request he stay away from Johan.
Relationships: Agnarr & Iduna (Disney), Agnarr/Iduna (Disney)
Series: Dangerous Secrets 'Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033725
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fericita and I wrote something for the Dangerous Secrets verse! Very, very different from WAIL XD

“She’s running late tonight, hm?” Halima flashed a knowing smile as I approached the bar. I grinned and rubbed the back of my neck but managed a noncommittal shrug. Iduna and I had been friends for years and met plenty of times at Hudson’s Hearth. She might guess that I was waiting for Iduna, but I doubted she could guess how disappointing it was that Iduna hadn’t shown up. We had been careful in public.  
“She’s been working herself hard lately. Probably just getting caught up.”  
“I believe it. Mr. Hansen has been in here singing her praises and so have half the other farmers. Iduna is doing great things for them!”  
“She is!” I said, then gestured to the three soldiers who watched me carefully from our booth in the corner. “Would you mind another round of ale? On me. I feel bad making them wait all night.”  
“Oh, please.” She waved a hand. “That’s their job and you’re a delight. Destin always said so.” I blushed, but felt my smile slip at the mention of Lieutenant Mattias’ name and Halima suddenly had a distant look in her eyes. She shook her head and smiled once more. “Go ahead and sit down, I’ll bring your drinks right over.”   
“But, Your Majesty,” she lowered her voice. “You might want to keep an eye on your friend at the end of the bar. He almost came to blows with Mr. Hansen last night.” I followed her gaze and saw Johan sitting not fifteen feet away. Staring at me sullenly as he took a swig from his stein. “And until you arrived tonight, he was complaining rather loudly about all the coin that Iduna has cost him.”  
I nodded. “We’ll finish our ale and be gone. I promise.” I glanced at the clock. “If Iduna isn’t here by now, she probably isn’t coming. She likes to rise early and wouldn’t want to wake the little ones coming home so late.” That was why we were meeting in the first place, she wanted to show me a cottage she was thinking of leasing from Mrs. Christiansen. But dusk had come and gone, and it could wait.  
“It’s starting to fill up, Your Majesty,” Corporal Runde said as I sat down. He, Sergeant Korhonen and Lieutenant Durnin were still finishing their first round of drinks while scanning the other patrons. “Looks like it’s going to be a busy night here.” I suppressed a sigh at the unspoken warning. Avoid crowds. Stay out of places that sailors and strangers might go. Help us help you. I had heard it all before. I was sick of hearing it from Lord Peterssen, but now my own guards?  
“We’ll finish this round and head back to the castle. Plenty of time to make it back for dinner if we hurry.”  
“That’s just what we need,” Lieutenant Durnin chuckled. “The Lord Regent angry with us because you come home half-drunk after downing a full tankard of ale too quick.”  
“That was one time,” I muttered, red-cheeked, as the others laughed. “Besides, I only got myself a mug.” Halima brought our drinks on a tray and we toasted to the continued fortune of Arendelle before knocking them back. As we departed, several people bowed their heads respectfully in my direction. I made a point of smiling and returning the gesture. It was important that they feel their future King respected them.  
Outside of Hudson’s Hearth, the air was cool and the moon was just starting to rise over the harbor. After the hubbub inside the tavern, it was refreshingly calm and quiet in the square, the stalls already broken down for the evening and the merchants gone home. Quiet enough, that as we started to make our way back to the castle, the sharp sound of someone’s hobnail boots against the cobblestones as they followed us was impossible to ignore. I exchanged a glance with Corporal Runde and we paused and turned.   
Johan stopped in the empty street, several paces away, and stood with his fists balled at his sides. Swaying slightly.  
“You!” He spat. I frowned. I wondered if he was drunk. “You think you’re so great, don’t you? That you ‘social betters’ can just do whatever you want?” His speech was slurred. Definitely drunk then. Corporal Runde started to take a step forward, but I touched his arm and he stopped. I could hear Lieutenant Durnin and Sergeant Kornhonen behind me as they turned and started back towards us. “You’re nothing but a selfish, entitled-“  
“Show Prince Agnarr the respect he deserves!” Lieutenant Durnin demanded as he came next to me. “You are a citizen of Arendelle and his subject by rights.”  
“Oh, terribly sorry, Your Majesty,” he hissed and took a theatrical bow. He staggered coming up.  
“Right, that’s enough-“ Corporal Runde growled.  
“He’s drunk.” I cut him off. “Very drunk. Go home, Johan! Sleep it off. If you have a grievance with the crown, you’re welcome to come to the petitioner session on Tuesdays.”  
“To hell with the crown, I’ve got a grievance with you personally!” He jabbed his finger in my direction. Sergeant Kornhonen’s hand was on the hilt of his sword. “I had a business! I had a plan! And you ran it into the ground! I know it was you! That stupid little bitch would never think of something so underhanded on her own-“  
“Watch yourself!” My voice echoed off the buildings. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I drew a deep breath. Lord Peterssen would never let me hear the end of it if I made a public spectacle of myself. Johan gave me a wicked grin and snorted.  
“Oh. That’s it. Hm? Angry I stole a kiss? From what I understand, you do it all the time. How’s she taste then, eh?” He cocked his head at me. “ ‘s funny. Figured she’d be used to it from you, but she froze up when I-“  
“Shut up!”  
He laughed. “Maybe I’ll pay her a visit when you tire of her. Not exactly the safest times for a young woman to be living alone.”  
I ground my teeth so sharply that my jaw ached and my ears rang. My fists clenched involuntarily. Iduna told me he had proposed, had fired her when she rejected him – she hadn’t mentioned any of this.  
“Corporal Runde!” I snapped.  
“Your Majesty?”  
“See this man safely to his home. He is not in a state fit to be in public and I won’t bother the Watch with him.”

* * * * *

Despite my protests, Lieutenant Durnin insisted on making a full report to Lord Peterssen as soon as we arrived at the castle. He could be annoyingly by-the-book like that at times.  
“He threatened you, Your Majesty.”  
“He threatened Iduna!” I scowled. “He just mouthed off to me. Besides, he was drunk. It’s wasn’t worth causing a scene over.”  
“You are absolutely right, Prince Agnarr,” Lord Peterssen said, raising a placating hand. “And you were wise to recognize it. I know how fond you are of Iduna, but coming to blows in a public square with some rowdy is no way for a future king to conduct himself. You did well to walk away.”  
“You did.” Lieutenant Durnin agreed. “When I was your age, I would’ve beat the little shit into a bloody pulp.”  
“I don’t exactly have that luxury,” I said grudgingly. “Everyone is always reminding me how the people of Arendelle’s eyes are on me at all times. Laying that man out flat wouldn’t exactly endear me to them.”  
To my surprise, it looked like Lord Peterssen was suppressing a smile. “Mm. Well, from what I hear, quite a few people thought he was over-charging for those windmills for personal profit. Especially now that Iduna is helping to build them at half-price and it came out that the designs were hers to begin with. But you’re right, it wouldn’t reflect well on the crown. Still, you should consider summoning him to a private audience to explain that his tone was entirely out of line. Your father would never have tolerated such disrespect.”  
“Right.” I shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” I gave a yawn and stretched my arms overhead. “Well, it’s been an adventure, but I think I’ll go read a book and retire for the evening. Goodnight, gentlemen.”  
“Goodnight, Your Majesty.”  
“Goodnight, Your Majesty.”  
I bit back my smile until I was safely in my bedroom and the door locked behind me. Quickly, I went to the closet and dug through the countless outfits until I managed to unearth a pair of dark trousers and a black shirt. They were a bit loose on me. Perhaps my father had worn them to a funeral at some point in time. I didn’t like the thought, but I couldn’t afford to be recognized tonight. And no one would expect a king to skulk around his own kingdom looking like a bandit.  
It was true, I was a king. I couldn’t beat Johan senseless in the streets. But I was also a man who was not about to let an insult and threat against the woman he loved go unpunished. I dressed quickly and even managed to find a hat and some black leather gloves. Sneaking out of the castle was all too easy. I used the passageway that Mattias had first shown me years before. He thought that it would be smart for me to know how to escape should the need ever arise. Iduna was the only other soul I had ever told about it.   
I made my way stealthy along the outskirts of Arendelle, ducking into the trees any time I thought I heard someone approaching. I was outside of Johan’s farmhouse before the clock struck ten. Carefully, I snuck past the chicken coop until I was able to peer in through a window. Corporal Runde had done his job. He had seen him home safely and would be able to testify that the man had gone to bed.   
I grinned and crept towards the door, but when I went to open it, it rattled against the frame. I swore and pressed gently against it. It creaked. I could feel the bar on the other side. I thought for a moment and then went to Johan’s barn. I had visited Iduna in his workshop several times and it didn’t take me long to find the thin, flexible metal piece I was looking for – a tool for opening up tight spaces, she had told me. I slipped the metal band through gaps in the wooden frame and shimmied it up until I could feel the bar.   
I braced myself, ready to rush through when it clattered to the floor. But to my surprise, when I hefted it out of the way and nearly fell inside as the door opened, there was no sound at all except the squeak of the hinges. I looked and saw that Johan had fashioned the bar on a pivot so it simply hung on the back of the door. He was still snoring peacefully in the next room.  
“I should’ve been a spy,” I muttered as I pulled my hat low and closed the door behind me. Now that I was here, my heart was hammering away in my chest. Did I really want to do this? To beat a man who lay defenseless? I stood over him, torn by indecision as I looked at his sleeping face, but then he snorted in his sleep almost exactly as he had in the square.  
When he had called Iduna that name.  
And bragged about touching her.  
And threatened to do it again.  
That was all it took. I snatched the pillow from under his head.  
“Wha-“ He managed sleepily before I shoved it over his face. Even with the hat and the weak moonlight, I didn’t want to risk him recognizing me. I aimed a blow where I imagined his nose to be and heard his muffled scream of pain. Planting one knee on his chest, and the other against his right arm, I kept holding the pillow in place with one hand and landed as many blows as I could with my free fist. Although he tried to thrash against me, I had two inches and at least twenty pounds on him. And Johan might act like I was a spoiled dandy, but I did more with my days than simply lounge around reading books and eating rich foods.  
Still, at one point he managed to work a leg free from his covers. He managed to catch me in the back with his knee, and was bracing to buck me off him when I turned and punched him in the groin. I could hear his agonized wail as he tried to double up despite my weight against him. I pummeled him a few more times before I realized he had stopped resisting. Panting, I raised the pillow just enough so I could hear him gasping for breath.  
“Can you hear me?” I hissed, trying to disguise my voice.  
“Yes,” he moaned tearfully. “Why?”  
“You’ve got three days to sail from Arendelle, crook. Go. Don’t come back. If you’re not gone by Sunday, my friends and I come back and we’ll break your hands. Understand?”  
“Yes!”  
“Good.” I dropped the pillow on his face and kneed him in the groin again for good measure. So he couldn’t follow me. And for everything he had done to Iduna. He squealed again and I fled the room. I didn’t stop running until I was halfway back to the castle, laughing softly to myself and feeling ten feet tall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iduna had every intention of letting one less secret stand between her and Agnarr.

I felt ten feet tall. I had my own cottage. I had a waiting list of farmers who wanted me to draw up plans for windmills. And I had Agnarr.

Maybe not for long, but I had him now. 

We were careful to avoid talking about the visit being planned for the king and princess of Vassar, of the need for Arendelle to have a strong army and strong alliances, of Agnarr’s need to produce heirs before his coronation in two years. 

When he first confessed to me that the council was trying to arrange a marriage for him, I thought I’d never be able to think about anything else. That it would color all of our time together so that I’d only see the red of rage or the gray of sadness. But instead, what I saw was the green of his eyes as he told me he loved me, the bright yellow of the stars on the ceiling of our secret room as we lay together with sighs and hands grasped tightly, the blue of the the waters on the fjord when we snuck out for a jaunt to skerries.

My best friend loved me. Me! And even though I knew it couldn’t end well, even though I knew a heartache was coming, I couldn’t stop. It felt like having a family again, this time of my own choosing. Out of joy and happiness and desire. He told me he loved me each night in the secret room and I believed him and said it too and meant it. So much.

I used the secret passageways and would sometimes bring a bottle or two from Hudson’s Hearth or some chocolate from Blodget’s Bakery. Even though Agnarr had any dessert or drink or dish he could want at his beck and call at the castle, we usually tried to avoid detection during my nighttime visits. 

Halima’s knowing smile made me giggle a bit as I paid for the two bottles of glogg and tucked them into the satchel over my shoulder. 

“Too fancy to stay and drink here now that you have your own cottage? And such a frequent - and handsome - visitor?”

I ducked my head and tried to hide the blush I could feel creeping up my neck. “I just prefer the quiet sometimes.”

Halima went back to her task of wiping the row of clean glasses on the counter and nodded. “Well, it got a lot quieter around here ever since Johan left. Shouting and raging at Mr. Hansen and then His Majesty The King - I don’t know what he was thinking.”

The feeling of heat left me immediately at that; everything felt suddenly cold. “Oh?” I managed to say, working hard to keep my voice even. Agnarr hadn’t said anything about confronting Johan. Or about seeing him at all.

“Blodget told me she saw him limping down to the docks and loading a trunk on the ship bound for the Southern Isles. ‘Good riddance’, I told her. Troublemaker if I ever saw one. I got tired of cleaning up the mugs he broke and losing the business he chased off being surly. And shouty.”

An idea was taking shape in my head. I had to know if it was true and I had to know soon. I thanked Halima for the glogg and left quickly, navigated through town and into the hidden doorway that would lead me to the passageway and then to the secret room and Agnarr.

I could tell my suspicion was correct as soon as I asked. We were sitting pressed against each other, my back against his chest, his hands in my hair, curling it around his fingers. 

“Johan? Gone? Maybe it was the spirits coming down from the forest. Attacking Arendellian assholes with their black magic.” His hands stilled in my hair at the word ‘magic’ and he seemed tense, bracing for my reaction. 

Whatever flush had worked its way onto my cheeks in my mad dash to the castle, and in the welcoming kiss Agnarr had given, rapidly drained away and I felt faint. I pulled away from him and twisted to look at his face, his eyebrows knit in concern, his eyes pleading.

“Sorry, that's a stupid joke. I shouldn't have made it. Your parents - I'm sorry.” He pulled me back against him, gently, stroking my arm. “I know you said you wanted to handle it on your own. And you did. You found new work. People chose you and your methods over Johan and that was you, all you.”

I sighed at the feel of his hand on mine, the way our fingers laced together and he nestled his head into my neck. It should have made me mad to know he had interfered - that he’d risked his reputation and safety. That he had caused someone injury and run them out of the kingdom. 

But all I could feel was relief. 

After years of being so profoundly alone that I couldn’t even wear my shawl or sing a lullaby without fear, I felt loved and safe. Like I had a family; like he was my family.

I let my body relax against his as he kept talking “I would have left it. But when he said he kissed you - bragged about forcing you - no one should force you to do anything. You should be free to do whatever you want!”

“That’s a wild thing for a king to say,” I said, a smile forming on my lips. I was feeling warm again now, wrapped as I was in his arms. 

“Well, it’s true. Besides, Peterssen’s always saying my most sacred and solemn duty is to keep my people safe. And Iduna, you’re the one I want to keep safe most of all.” He began stroking my cheek and I burrowed against his palm. 

I had worked so hard to be safe. It might be a murmur, it might be a shout, but there were daily cries against the “wicked Northuldra.” And even if I couldn’t tell him all of that now, to know that he was protecting me - it felt good. Very, very good.

“Anyway, now there's a law about unlawful termination. We finished that up in Council today. I also had Peterssen set up one petitioner session a month just for women to come with complaints and requests so they can ask without men in the audience, besides me of course. Maybe once I have a queen it can be her duty, but…” 

As he trailed off, his hands fell to his sides and away from my face and side. Now it was my turn to be strong for him, to keep the gloomy mood that was beginning to descend from settling on him and weighing us both down. 

“Stop. Let's not think of that tonight.” I pulled him away from the wall and we slid fully onto the floor, amidst the furs and pillows we had scattered there, lying down and looking at the ceiling I had spent so much time perfecting. “Tonight we won’t worry about the future. Tell me a story instead.”

“A story?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow and looking down at me, smiling.

“Yes. A story of Agnarr, The Defender of The Unpleasantly Kissed. Giver of Black Eyes and Limps. King of Windmill Enthusiasts. They’re my favorites.”

He laughed and leaned down to kiss me on the nose, his hand reaching to my waist. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, Iduna, Keeper of My Heart.”

But instead of asking for a story, I lifted my head off of the cushioned floor and found his mouth with mine. His kiss was eager and that feeling of needing more and needing it urgently were already crowding out any other thoughts in my head. Our hands found familiar places and I sighed happily, covered by his body and overcome with the way his mustache tickled my neck and his hands found skin. As we pressed against each other and I rolled my hips to meet him I knew that I could never regret this joining, this happiness that I’d found. 

I was home.


End file.
